In dealing with the highest level of inflation since 1982, many comments on unions being stronger to protect their members before the Tories took their rights away. There were other big differences (see Thread). Any analysis of the current crisis has to include all of these.
1/ Housing: most renters were in council homes (effectively rent control). Right to buy introduced by the Tories effectively destroyed council housing and boosted the private rental sector. There is no control on rents.
Source: fullfact.org/economy/social…
2/ Benefits were adjusted by the RPI measure of inflation not the current CPI one. CPI excludes housing cots and is therefore almost always lower. For instance in April '22, CPI was 9% but RPI was 11%. The Tories made the switch from RPI to CPI. Source: researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06…
3/ Household debt - we borrowed less and therefore owed less in the 1980s compared to now. In 1987 household debt was 56% of GDP, in Dec 2021 it was 91%. The Tories from 80s dismantled limits on financial activity and credit
Source: commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-brief…
4/ Inequality - the top rate of tax was 60% in 1982, it's now 40%. The incomes of the richest have soared since 1982 relative to the average. Look at the blue and red lines in 1982 see how close they were to 2015. This reflects the cumulation of the previous points.
5/ Under Tory governments the richest have disproportionately faired way better than everyone else. Additional Tory cuts and under investment in health, education, transport, council spending have reduced what is publicly available versus what can be privately provided.
6/ The graph is the Gini coefficient, a standard way of international measuring economic inequality. 0% is perfect equality, 100% is perfect inequality. The UK ratio has soared to inequality since the changes the Tories made in the 1980s and after. Source: statista.com/statistics/872…
7/ The current #CostOfLivingCrisis is driven by global factors, yes. But the scale of hardship here has been intensified by the impact of Tory policies (many of which were sadly accepted by Labour 1997 to 2010). This history has to be part of any analysis of the current crisis.
1/ The new left party you’re waiting for isn’t coming.
The real choice is already here.
🧵 Let’s talk about the biggest blind spot on the British Left: the refusal to see the Green Party.
2/ Labour has moved right. Everyone knows it.
Yet most of the British Left isn’t rallying behind something new, it’s waiting.
Waiting for a new party.
Waiting for a new movement.
Waiting for a new force.
It’s been five years since Corbyn leadership. What exactly are we waiting for?
3/ Ask people on the Left what they want and the wishlist is clear:
Anti-austerity
Public ownership
Climate justice
Worker support
End the genocide
The thing is—that’s not fantasy.
That’s the Green Party platform right now.
1/ Understanding that “we have no legal opportunity of effectively influencing the conduct of wars waged in our name” explains the trauma that many of us feel. Our government is actively backing a genocide. They and the media are whitewashing, making the victims..
2/ the guilty, and making the perpetrators the victims. We protest, march and campaign to stop the genocide. Yet not only has the genocide got worse, it’s expanded to another country and now they’re planing a major regional war to “stop escalation”.
3/ This isn’t about one set of politicians or media outlets. It’s about the system. The system is all out for the genocide. It’s locked in, the same way climate destruction is, the way crumbling public services are and the way the economy works to only benefit a tiny minority.
1/ Labour didn't promise much during the election campaign. The only firm promise they made was on energy prices. Yet none of the media reporting on the energy price hike mentions this or questions Labour on this. Nothing is failing this country more than the #BrokenMedia
2/ This is typical of what Starmer and Labour were saying when they were in opposition looking for votes. A big difference to what they're saying today...
3/ Starmer and Labour in opposition also said they would protect pensioners and their winter fuel allowance. Now they've got the votes, they go back on all this...
Massive response across the country to counter the hate "protests". The real Britain reasserting itself against the tiny minority trying to terrorise us. Highlights on this thread. 1/ Newcastle
That old myth about the royals and tourism has done the rounds like crazy. It never gets fact checked, so here some data 1/ UK sites: No royal site, free or paid is a top 10 tourist attraction by visitor numbers
2/ Countries: 3 of the top 10 most popular countries for tourists are monarchies. Not one sensible person is saying people are going to Spain and Thailand to see the royal palaces and not going for the beaches (nowhere near the royal palaces). Same applies here (see 1).
3/ Those who want to justify the monarchy and the obscene sums of money they get directly or in tax loopholes can crack out the tourism myth. They have no other credible practical excuse left. But the media shouldn’t let this claim go unchecked let alone repeat it uncritically.
Labour have been consistently been making two claims about their NHS plans: 1) They will scrap the non dom tax 2) They will use it to fund the biggest expansion of the NHS workforce
As the media can’t be bothered to, I’ve fact checked this on this thread
1/13
1) Labour ISN’T scrapping the non dom tax loophole it’s replacing it with a new tax break because they want “to attract top international talent”. In no understanding of the English language are “scrapping” and “replacing” the same thing.
Source theguardian.com/news/2022/apr/…
2) Will Labour’s new tax loophole for Non Dons raise enough for the “biggest expansion of the NHS workforce”?
So far Labour has not detailed what it’s new tax loop hole will look like. On Labour’s own figures (see above) the total scrapping of the current loophole will